If Trees Could Talk!

Who is Who?

Kyle moved and at last reached this house. He first hid his bag that had his weapons in a nearby bush, then continued to the house because he was afraid of starting up a fight. It was already night time so he bumped into a small family of four people having their supper.

They looked at him and he also looked at them with millions of ideas running through his mind. Finally, he decided to ask them for help before they regarded him as a foe.

“Sorry, for entering here without even knocking. I am a feller and I got injured while the forest that has talking trees. I am requesting for some treatment, food, shelter for tonight then some advice on how I can leave this island,” said Kyle.

“I am Job. What is your name?” asked the man.

“Call me Kyle,” he replied.

Job was the owner of this house. He lived there with his wife and their son and daughter. They lived there in solitude and they were there guarding the trees and forests on the island.

Job’s wife complained, “Of late, there are many people coming to this island. The other year it was Gooky, last year, it was Kareem and this year it is Kyle. What is wrong with these fellers? Do they want to die?”

She said this as she rushed to Kyle’s rescue. She gave him food, some water to drink then they carried him to a certain room to rest.

“Should we trust him? He may be like Gooky that we helped then he decided to remain on our island. He even brought more people just to make our work of guarding the trees more difficult,” said Job’s wife to him.

“Relax, let us go and rest,” replied Job. “We shall talk to him tomorrow and find out his motives.”

Early in the morning, Job quickly went into Kyle’s room to see how he was doing. He also carried along some medicine for treating Kyle. He found Kyle still sleeping and woke him up then asked him a couple of questions.

“I do not want to help people anymore. Two years ago, some feller called Gooky came to me, just as you did. He was almost dying but we took our time and resources and treated him. After him recovering, he just ran away and returned to the mainland.

On returning to the island, he came with many other fellers. He has not yet made a move but I know he wants to cut down our trees and if he does, what happened some years back will happen again,” said Job.

Kyle then inquired, “What happened some years back?”

“I do not want to tell it to you. I told Gooky all the history of this island and now goes on to mislead and lie people. He uses it to convince people that he is the island owner. I cannot trust anymore people.

Last year, another person like you called Kareem showed up. It was so unfortunate for him that he met Gooky first even before he encountered the forest. Gooky then misled him with the other version of the story. By the time he came to us, he had already been hoodwinked by Gooky’s words of deceit.

He told me that Gooky had given him some deal that he wanted him to accept. It was that on allowing him to cut down the trees, sixty percent of the money would go to Gooky and his group. I think Gooky did this because he fears facing the haunted forest again. It is why he chooses to risk the lives of those who are courageous enough,” said Job.

“After the warning the trees sounded to me, I cannot think of staying here any longer. Whenever I remember, I feel like going straight away,” said Kyle.

Kyle then told him about all that had happened to him. Job just kept on listening to him and wondering how much people have to suffer to get rich.

Kyle then asked, “How did you conclude with Kareem?”

Job replied, “Well, I just told him the truth. He had agreed to work with Gooky but after my words to him, he changed his mind. After that, I helped him to find his way off the island and told him never to return.”